When I first began using a Mac in the 1980s, I didn’t look at the company as a potential money machine. For well over a decade, my decision was often attacked by PC-using critics. They told me there wasn’t any useful software for a Mac, at the same time I was generating content with Adobe Illustrator, QuarkXPress and Microsoft Word. They told me that Macs weren’t easy to use at the same time they were struggling with their DOS and Windows boxes trying to manage what were, to me, simple tasks.

By the mid-1990s, you might have thought, with a fair amount of justification, that Apple was on the ropes and a possible takeover target for another company that would quickly merge and kill its unique character. You might have thought that Apple’s executives weren’t really sure what made Macs different as they introduced more and more models with insignificant differences you could barely tell apart. The aging Mac OS was becoming increasingly unstable. With the arrival of the first really usable version of Windows, Windows 95, more and more app developers decided to ditch the Mac and embrace what they felt to be a platform with more potential.

Through it all, Windows didn’t strike me as any better actually. The interface was sort of Mac-like in a clumsy way, and performing even basic setups took at least twice as many steps with less predictable results. But since apps available on both platforms more or less worked the same, though looking less pretty on a PC, I suppose most people wouldn’t notice so much of a difference once things were set up properly.

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As most of you know, Apple — make that Steve Jobs — first demonstrated the iPhone 15 years ago at a Macworld Expo. While the company had long been rumored to be working on a cellphone, the exact configuration was expected to be something in line with existing gear, except for the integration with iTunes. Apple had tried to have its embedded in a Motorola device, the ROKR, which ended up being a perfectly dreadful product for which ease of use was a dirty word.

In any case, before the iPhone arrived, the common form factor for a smartphone was best typified by the Blackberry, featuring a tiny physical keyboard, with a small display above it. I tried them once or twice, but decided that I’d rather use such a device for making and receiving phone calls, not for text or suffering though a dreadful mobile app. Or just stick with my deep red Motorola RAZR.

Until the iPhone arrived.

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When I first started using Macs in the 1980s, I did not for a moment consider what I’d be using as my gadgets of choice in 2022. Or even that I’d still be alive.

In any case, I adopted the platform early on because of its relative ease of use and stability. Compared to today’s Mac, there is no comparison. The 21st century Mac is just incredibly faster, but regular system crashes rarely occur, and when something goes awry, it’s mostly due to an issue with a specific app that can be cured by getting the new version.

Apple’s third processor transition is moving forward, and there have been few complaints. Well, some of the critics tried to imply that the amazing benchmarks that have been published were either fake or taken out of context. There was always a way to fudge the numbers to one’s advantage.

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So Barbara and I have iPhones (and her iPad) that are fully compatible with the latest operating systems from Apple. They may not be new enough to take advantage of all of the spiffy new features, but they run just fine. There are no issues that I can see; apps launch fast, that things that we do (mostly email, Safari and a handful of other apps) work just fine.

My iMac, however, is a Late 2014 model, the first with the 5K Retina Display. But the latest macOS, Monterey, cannot be installed on it. Yes, I know there are unofficial ways to make it so, but I also have to run a business, and I cannot risk running into unexpected problems that might sacrifice reliability and security. So I live with Big Sur.

Except for Safari, since Apple has released the Monterey version, with most of the new features, for older operating systems that include Big Sir and Catalina.

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